Bob Martin

I believe that you should make a “spare” set of earmolds for every one of your patients with significant hearing loss. The wisdom of this advice may not be evident, so let me elaborate. Hearing aid technology is complex. However, few hearing aid users understand this complexity until they have worn hearing aids for a number of years. Unlike other

The longer I practice audiology, the more I appreciate the application of light. I’ll explain. We use light to look into ears and hearing aids, and the quality of the light can greatly affect the quality of our inspection. I recently replaced the old desk light that was located directly above my “grinding machine.” The new light is one of

Let me ask you a question.  As a hearing health care professional, when you send a new CIC (completely-in-the-canal) hearing aid to the factory for repair, do you check it when it comes back? And if you find that it’s ‘dead’, what do you do?  Be careful how you answer; you may be surprised. This happened to me twice recently. The

I have a Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) that I try to use every time I see a patient. This SOP can be described simply as: look in the ear, look in the hearing aid, measure the amplification, check to be sure the amplification is providing good hearing, and listen to–and solve–any problems the patient may have. In a future article

At times hearing aids make an ear-splitting screech that will drive most people crazy. This horrific noise, called feedback, occurs in all audio systems, including public address systems. In the hearing care profession, we have been fighting the feedback “monster” for many years. Possibly you may have heard that the incredible improvements in digital processing have eliminated feedback from hearing

I want to tell you about a new reason why this is a good time to be an audiologist. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the marketing in the U.S. of a new test system called HEARLab. The system was researched and developed in Australia by the NAL (National Acoustic Laboratories). It is manufactured in this country by Frye

Important note: The information in this article is for patients who have been checked by a medical doctor and told that it is all right for them to clean their ears. If you have any ear pain, drainage from your ear, a hole (perforation) in your eardrum, or any other type of ear problem, do not attempt to clean your

Today I want to tell you a story about two little boys who were born two weeks apart. Their mothers were sisters so they were first cousins. Their names were Billy and Joe. I first saw them when they about a year-and-a-half old. We saw these babies/boys in our clinic many times. We did hearing tests and fitted them with

A few months ago on this blog, I discussed using a “special listening program” to reduce unwanted noise. Such programs help you hear better in various situations, including when you’re in a crowd or on the telephone. Not all hearing aids come with multiple listening programs, so if you think you would benefit from this capacity, check to see if

Most people are familiar with closed captioning on their television. The words are printed on the bottom of the television screen so you see them and hear them at the same time. Captioning technology is now also available on telephones. Telephones with captions work the same way as any other phone except they have a screen that displays the words